So Not Awkward
by Barnabas C
Summary: All three of them were just screwed up enough that maybe between them they actually almost added up to two whole normal, well-adjusted people… and maybe that was why it worked. Dawn/Satsu/Faith; warning for femslash, if that's not your cup o' tea.
1. The Key

**So Not-Awkward**

**I - The Key**

_Now_

It should've been awkward. Not the whole dating-a-girl thing. The dating-her-sister's-ex thing.

The dating-a-girl part of it wasn't weird, but it had been sorta surprising when it happened. Even though she'd grown up around it, it wasn't something she ever expected to be doing herself (and no, those three times with Amanda didn't count; they weren't dates, there'd been imminent-death-looming-just-over-the-horizon issues, and you couldn't even call it sex if you didn't get all the way to the orgasm, could you?). She decided pretty quickly that she liked it, though. A lot. Boys were great and all, but girls had better taste in movies… and clothes… and pretty much everything else. Girls didn't treat an afternoon shopping at the mall as some kind of torturous punishment. Girls didn't get all excited and try to spend an hour talking to you about sports as if you somehow actually cared. And girls were better kissers.

She seriously _could not_ remember a time when she'd been happier. It seemed like she was finally being repaid for all the misery and crap she'd had to endure as a kid.

There had been only a single sucky thing about it so far, in fact: the looks you got when you walked around campus holding hands, or when you kissed in public. The guys just grinned and tended to follow you around, as if they expected that a threesome would suddenly break out, with them firmly sandwiched in the middle. The girls gave you the disdainful looks reserved for that sad wannabe who tried too hard. Which was doubly annoying when you just knew that one out of every four of those hypocritical sluts were screwing their roommates at night, and then had the nerve to look down on those secure enough to be public with it when the sun came up again. But she wasn't about to date some _guy_ just to convince everyone she wasn't trying too hard to be Trendy College Girl. Her girlfriend was not a fashion accessory.

She _was_ her sister's ex, however… sort of. There was no getting away from that, and that was definitely weird. It wasn't like she'd planned it, but it also wasn't like she was going to not do it just because her sister had gotten there first, sampled the hors d'oeuvres once, and decided they weren't for her.

This just proved, yet again, that her sister was a dumbass. 'Cause look what she'd missed out on…

* * *

><p><em>Then<em>

It hadn't taken Dawn long to discover that there was a slayer on campus. She wished she could put that down to her awesome instincts and great detective skills, but truthfully she might never have found out if the girl hadn't come up to her on the second day and introduced herself. Or _re_-introduced herself.

To say that Dawn was less than thrilled would be… kind of an understatement. "I don't believe her!" she'd exploded. "My sister sent a slayer to babysit me through college? Okay, is she completely crazy, or just feeling the guilt over not being here to do it herself anymore?" she asked of no one in particular, before turning back and speaking directly to the slayer again. "So, what, are you like gonna be assigned to me right through grad school, too, or are they gonna rotate a few of you through in shifts over the next few years?"

Satsu just seemed amused by the outburst. "Um, no, I'm not actually 'assigned' anywhere. I'm Class of '09. Pre-med. Go Bruins," she offered with a cautious little fist pump. "Willow told me you were going to be here, too. Just thought I'd look you up and say hi."

"Oh." Her anger washed away immediately, and a tide of embarrassment swept in to replace it. "Oh. So, uh… any chance you could kinda forget I just said any of that?"

"Any of what?" Satsu asked, and Dawn gave her a small, grateful smile. "Anyway, I just got here yesterday and I'm still finding my way around. Wanna help me explore the student union? Someone told me they've got a White Castle."

So they did (the White Castle thing was a dirty lie, as it turned out, but there was a Taco Bell), and by the end of the week they were meeting twice a day for coffee, getting together for study sessions, and checking out the campus party scene together. Dawn had never been great at making friends quickly, so to suddenly be in a strange place all alone, it was a relief to discover a friend who was sort of half-made already.

And naturally it wasn't long before they went out patrolling together, either, and one thing led to another, and by the middle of October…

Dawn slashed quickly, wincing as the knife blade sliced her palm, then handed it over to Satsu, who did the same. For just a moment she looked at the line of thick wet redness, slowly beginning to drip down the sides of her hand and onto the paper towel spread out on the floor. Just ordinary dark-red blood, not a thing in the world special about it. Until…

Satsu's fingertips hesitantly sought out Dawn's, then their hands clasped, and as their blood touched and mingled an explosion of green energy erupted outward. It crackled and jumped all around them, ricocheting off every surface, lighting up a room that had been almost pitch-black a moment ago. Their bodies went rigid as the power flowed through them, an electrocution without the pain, an orgasm without the pleasure. There was somehow no sensation to it despite it being the most intense experience either of them had ever had.

They'd discovered this by accident one night when a fight with a Fyarl demon had left them both battered and bloody, and one girl had offered the other a hand up. The energy from those few drops of blood had only caused a handful of green sparks, but it was enough to lead to more experimentation, and then these late nights together in the janitor's closet. Because it wasn't the energy flowing around and through them that kept them repeating the act over and over, it was what the energy _created_.

As they sat across from each other with folded legs, a small, green-ringed ball appeared above their clasped hands, growing from the size of a marble to that of a soccer ball. In it they could see a rugged mountain range formed of dark purple rock, with an angry red sky behind it, and forks of lightning stabbing down from black clouds. Every detail was perfectly-vivid, and as three-dimensional as if they were looking through a window. It was a scene somehow captivating in its savage beauty, and they stared fixedly into it until it vanished a few minutes later, replaced by an entirely new setting.

Every time they did this it was different, every dimension they peeked into a fresh wonder. They'd seen frighteningly-alien landscapes, vistas of beautiful blue oceans and green plains, and worlds with massive cities not so much different from their own.

Dawn knew that with a little more blood they could widen the portal and jump through, landing in a whole new place that maybe no human had ever even set foot in before. They never would, of course, because who knew if they could ever get home again, but she loved that the _possibility_ was there, that she and her friend had this ability to come together and do something so magic, so unique. Maybe any slayer's blood could do this mixed with hers, but she didn't think so. Buffy's never had. Somehow Satsu was special.

But Dawn had pretty much already figured that out before they even discovered this trick.

The storm of energy swirling around them suddenly grew stronger, more intense, and somehow, even though it was still perfectly silent, it seemed to be getting louder, as well. The portal began to pulse: smaller-larger-smaller-larger-smaller-

Dawn cried out - not in pain, but in… something. Her eyelids fluttered, then her eyes rolled up to the whites and she collapsed to the floor. Satsu let go of her hand to reach for her, and the portal and the crackling electricity vanished instantly.

When the real world blurred back into sort-of-sharp existence a few moments later, the Japanese girl was cradling her head and shoulders and looking down on her with deep concern. "Dawn? Are you okay?"

"I think so," she said after giving her body a few seconds to let her know of any serious problems. "What happened?"

"You tell me. Actually, no - don't bother," she corrected herself. "Doesn't even matter, because that's it - we're not doing it again. Sure, it's cool, but I'm not letting you die over it."

"Whatever." Dawn was too tired to argue about it right then. She could probably talk her into changing her mind in the morning if she felt like it.

Another few seconds passed. Strength began to return to her limbs and she allowed herself to be helped up. As she sat up their faces passed within just a few inches of each other, and in a carpe-diem, oh-what-the-hell moment, Dawn finally found enough courage to press both palms against the other girl's cheeks and pull her in for a kiss.

Time passed, and it was only when she realized that the kiss wasn't being returned that she pulled away. "What?" she asked, cringing inwardly but trying her best to hide it and appear nonchalant.

"What are you doing, Dawn?"

"Umm… kissing you?"

"Why?" Satsu clearly wasn't as excited by it as Dawn had hoped for, but she didn't exactly seem upset by it, either. 'Dubious curiosity' might be the best description for the way she was staring at her.

"'Cause I've been wanting to do that for about three weeks now, but kept chickening out. But I guess I was all woozy and stuff from the blood-loss and the passing-out, and your lips were right there and _really_ kissable and so I just sort of… did."

"Why?" she asked again. "You're not - "

"Please don't finish that sentence," Dawn begged her. She reached for the roll of gauze that they'd brought with them, and began wrapping the still-seeping cut on her palm. From past experience she knew it would be nothing but a dull-pink scar by lunchtime the next day, and even that would have faded completely by the weekend; she may not have slayer- or vampire-healing, but she was far from normal.

"I know I'm not, okay?" she said. Now that she'd done it, and it hadn't gone nearly as great as she'd sometimes allowed herself to dream about, the embarrassment was setting in. It was lucky that taping the bandage in place gave her an excuse not to look at the other girl. "But I still wanted to do it. I don't know why. All I know is that when I wake up in the morning, I can't wait to meet you for breakfast. I sit in class and spend the last twenty minutes of it staring at the clock 'cause I know you're waiting for me in the library. Some guy asked me out at a frat party last week, and I turned him down because, even though he was hot and even seemed kinda sweet - for a frat guy, if that's even possible - he wasn't you." She took a deep breath, then, in a tumbling rush, admitted, "It's stupid, I know it's stupid, 'cause I really like being your friend and just hanging out with you and now I've probably totally messed that up 'cause obviously that kiss was a seriously stupid idea but I just kinda hoped that maybe you felt some of the same things - "

A soft hand cupped the side of her chin, and gently but insistently drew her head back up, and her blue eyes met her friend's brown ones.

"Maybe I do," Satsu admitted, and Dawn's face broke into a relieved smile. "But I'm not sure we should do anything about it," she added, and the smile was short-lived.

"Oh."

"You're the best friend I've had in… a long time, Dawn. You're smart, and beautiful, and funny, and brave, and thoughtful, and yes: sometimes I think about it. But I think I finally learned my lesson about dating straight girls. It just hurts too much."

"But I'm not straight!" Dawn objected. Satsu's eyebrows quirked upward, and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth at her friend's sudden vehemence, but she remained silent and allowed her to go on. "Or I mean, I have been - mostly - but… Look, I'm not anything, okay?" she huffed. "I'm just me. And right now all I know is that there's no one on this whole campus, or in this whole city, or in this whole _dimension_ that I'd rather be kissing than you."

The slayer's smile grew a little, but she said, "It's just not a good idea. Getting over your sister was hard for me, and I don't - "

"But I'm not her! I don't wanna have sex with you!"

The smile became a grin, half-amused, half-bemused. "Oh. Wow, thanks. That's flattering."

"I mean, not yet," she clarified, grinning a little herself. "My sister screwed everything up - maybe on purpose, 'cause she does stuff like that. Okay, it's not like I have the hugest amount of experience with this, but I think that if you want a relationship to be real and last longer than three hours, you don't jump straight to the sex. You build up to the sex, over the course of many dates. Or three or four, at least." When Satsu's gaze wandered to the room's lone, darkened window, and she chewed at her bottom lip in silence, Dawn added, "I can prove that not every Summers girl is as thoughtless as she is. Promise. I can do it the right way."

The other girl continued staring out the window, and after a few moments passed with nothing, Dawn knew that she'd pushed too hard, said too much. Maybe, if she was lucky, Satsu would still be her friend in the morning. Maybe, if she was _really_ lucky, the slayer would think about all of this for a few days or a couple of weeks and be willing to talk about it all again. But right now…

She sighed, checked that her bandage was in place, and got to her feet - and suddenly there was someone standing right in front of her, and soft, warm lips pressed against hers. After the first couple of seconds of shock, her hands found their way down to a slim pair of hips, and then Dawn was kissing her back. It seemed to last both forever and for barely any time at all, but when it ended, Dawn couldn't hold back a little moan at the quick, teasing dip the slayer's tongue made into her mouth.

"Wow," she breathed, when she found her voice again. When she finally opened her eyes, Satsu was staring back at her, her expression unreadable.

"We're not having sex tonight. Or tomorrow night, either."

"Okay," Dawn murmured happily, and leaned forward until their foreheads were touching. "But you're willing to go out to dinner with me tomorrow, right?"

"I have dinner with you almost every night," Satsu reminded with a friendly smirk.

"Yeah, but I'm not talking about chicken and noodles from P.F. Chang's in your dorm room while you try to help me with my biochemistry homework. I mean _dinner_."

"You want me to wear a dress, don't you?" the self-admitted - and proud of it! - tomboy teased.

"I wouldn't hate it if you did."

"I know I'm probably an idiot for even considering this, but…" Satsu let the sentence trail off, and went back in for another kiss.


	2. The Slayer

**II - The Slayer**

_Now_

It should've been awkward, screwing the kid sister of the chick you'd had the hots for for almost ten years. And it was… for about the first fifteen seconds, until kid sis's insane hotness sunk in and blotted out all other concerns.

So the awkwardness quickly faded, but the strangeness remained. Strange because, two weeks later, they were doing it again. She'd stopped counting ages ago the total number of people she'd fucked in her life, but how long had it been since she'd fucked someone a _second_ time? Her cellmate, obviously, four years ago. And before that? Christ, had it really been… nine years since her last non-prison repeater? Not since Boston?

But there was something different about this one. Her duties took her all over the world these days, yet now she somehow kept finding excuses to end up back in LA every two or three weeks, back at that motel just a few blocks from the campus, and they'd fuck each other senseless for a few hours - not easy to find an ordinary human who could come close to wearing out a slayer - and then they'd go their separate ways again, usually without having exchanged even a single word.

Kid sis's hotness, talent, and stamina were part of the draw, sure, but it was also that she _knew_ her. She knew all the mistakes she'd made, all the horrible things she'd done, and there was always that little bit of hatred and disgust there in her eyes that she never bothered to hide. She could cross the globe and save thousands of people and make all the amends for her past evils that she wanted, but somehow none of it felt quite as fulfilling as seeing that hate and loathing glaring up at her from that perfect, pretty little doll-like face as she was on her knees in front of her, eating her out. That definitely made her wicked fucked-up (maybe the prison shrink would've cured her of it by now if she'd stuck around long enough to get the full treatment), but she didn't care. Of the two of them, she figured she was actually probably the one with fewer problems. She wasn't the one screwing someone she hated. She wasn't the one with a steady girlfriend who loved her - and who she obviously loved in return - yet was cheating on behind her back.

But hey, that was kid sis's problem. Let her figure it out. In the meantime, she'd keep blowing through town every couple of weeks, they'd keep blowing through each other, and the weirdness would continue…

* * *

><p><em>Then<em>

The bar was just a short walk from the dorms, and naturally full of college kids. For a second Faith thought her information must be wrong, because what the hell would B's kid sister be doing in here, but then she shook her head and reminded herself that the kid wasn't twelve anymore. The realization suddenly made her feel old, but she pushed it away and concentrated on why she was here.

After a few moments of searching, finally she spotted her. It took a little longer than she'd thought because not only was she older than Faith remembered, but she'd cut her hair short since the last time she'd seen her - just off the shoulders - lightened it by a couple of shades, and added blonde highlights. She looked every bit the Big Girl on Campus. And she had some admirers - a group of guys standing nearby, looking like they were getting up the courage to approach her. The pissed-off expression on her face, and the somehow-vaguely-hostile set of her shoulders were keeping them away for the moment, but she was hot, and they were college guys, and so they'd each make their move eventually. Faith thought that if they were lucky they'd only get shot down. If they were unlucky they might get a drink in the face. Or a punch in the nose. Girl looked serious about wanting to be left alone.

So, of course, Faith walked right up and took a place beside her at the bar. "What's the occasion?" she asked, and nodded down toward the shot glass.

Dawn stared at her for in annoyance a few seconds, then picked up the glass and downed it in a single gulp. "It was my birthday yesterday," she said, and motioned to the bartender for another.

"Definitely worth celebrating," the slayer agreed, and silently indicated that she'd take one of whatever it was that Dawn was drinking. "So, how many candles this year?"

Annoyance turned to aggravation, and she cast a meaningful look toward the man behind the bar, though he'd already moved off to serve someone else. "Twenty-one," she said through nearly-clenched teeth.

"Right. Obviously. Well, happy birthday."

She grunted something that may or may not have been a thank you. "And our hamster died this morning."

"Wh-huh?"

"The one thing I had to do," she grumped, and grabbed her glass again. She took a much smaller, but no less angry sip this time. "All I had to do was take care of it for a week while she went home to visit her family, feed it and keep its water full, but I somehow screwed it up. Tsu's gonna be so upset when she gets back. She loved that little thing."

"Wait - a hamster?" Faith asked incredulously. "You mean like one of those fluffy little rats? Jeez, so go out and buy another one. Sue will never know the difference." Whoever the hell Sue was; Faith hadn't caught the faint 'T' sound on the front.

"You don't think I thought of that?" Dawn practically yelled, turning so she could glare down at her… and making Faith wonder when she'd gotten so tall. "I've spent the whole day going to every stupid pet store in the city. But he had this little patch of darker fur in a circle all around his left ear, and I couldn't find a single one that had one like that. As pissed as she's going to be that I let him die, I'm thinking that trying to pass off a really bad copy as the real thing would be way worse. I've seen people try that on TV, and it never works."

"Are you sure it was even your fault? Hey, pets die, right? Maybe he just had hamster cancer or something." How the hell had this conversation ended up here? She'd come by to talk business, and now she was trying to console and comfort someone because their damn gerbil had died? Consolation was _so_ not her thing. And seriously - who the hell was Sue, and why was Dawn so wound up about her?

"Uh-uh." She shook her head, and went back to her drink. "We only got him in February. They're supposed to live for like two years. I did it somehow, and she's going to _know_ I did it, and then she'll probably dump me on the spot. Why wouldn't she? I mean, what does this say about our future? How's she ever gonna trust me enough to maybe wanna have a baby with me someday if I can't even keep a hamster alive? She'll go out to buy groceries one day, and come home to find out I let it play with knives or drink the drain cleaner or something." She finished her rant and tossed back the rest of the liquor remaining in her glass.

Oh. Oh! _That's_ who Sue was? Daammmnnn. Okay, Faith hadn't been expecting that. She took a step back and gave the kid an appraising look. And as that last sentence replayed in her head, she couldn't help smirking. She knew it was inappropriate, but still. "Uh, how much have you had already, D? 'Cause if you think the dead hamster is the biggest thing standing in the way of you and your chick having a kid - "

"What do you want?"

"Huh?" This conversation was surprisingly-hard to keep up with… and she wasn't even the one who'd been drinking. Unfortunately.

"Last I heard, you were in… Puerto Rico? Then suddenly you show up in the same bar in Los Angeles as me and it's just a coincidence? I don't think so. So what do you want?"

"Uh… hey." They both turned toward the strange voice. Two of the college guys Faith had noticed before had somehow decided that right now was the perfect time. "We were wondering if you ladies - ?"

"Fuck off," Faith told them, and returned her attention to Dawn without giving them a second look. Anyone that clueless and unobservant didn't even rate fake politeness. "I need your help," she explained. "I just came from New Mexico. Took this rock off some demon there, with a bunch of crazy runes on it. They're in Sumerian, or Spartan… or some damn language I can't read. This guy was gettin' ready to use it for somethin', and he's dead now but I still think we need to know what it said. So I need you to translate it for me."

"Get Giles to do it," she mumbled, and signaled the bartender again.

"Giles is in England." Faith placed her hand over the top of Dawn's glass, preventing him from re-filling it. "You're right here. And this could be important. So stop feeling sorry for yourself because your girlfriend's gonna be pissed at you for killing her stupid rat, and come help me."

"Did you bring it with you?" Dawn asked her, apparently resigned to the fact that Faith wasn't going to leave her alone until she got what she wanted.

"Are you kidding? It's as big as your head. It's still back at the room."

"Of course it is," she sighed, and while Faith was trying to figure out what _that_ meant, Dawn dug some money out of her pocket and paid for both their drinks. "Fine, then - let's go."

An hour later, Faith was sprawled out on the motel room's bed, watching something on the small TV. Dawn was sat in a chair by the window, pencil and notepad in hand, dutifully transcribing the Etruscan on the medium-sized rock on the table beside her.

They hadn't said a word since they'd left the bar, and it was driving Faith slightly crazy. When she was fucking someone, silence was actually preferable. But the rest of the time, she needed to be in a conversation. Unable to stand it any longer, she finally asked, "So how long you and Sue been together?"

"Ten months," Dawn answered without looking up from her work.

"Wow. So then you two are pretty serious, huh?"

"Yep."

"And? What's she like?" If she thought that one- or two-word answers were going to make Faith give up and leave her alone, she obviously didn't know her very well.

"Gorgeous," Dawn said simply, still not looking up. "Kind. Caring. Unbelievably smart. Able to kick your ass without really trying. So, basically: totally perfect."

Faith snickered… until she realized the kid was serious. Damn, this _was_ interesting! "So… what - that means you're dating a Sapplish demon-goddess? Wow, hope you know what you're doing. I had to put one of those down once. Thing was a bitch to kill. Literally. And trust me, the 'kind and caring' thing's just an act. Have you told B yet? 'Cause I think she'd frown on you dating demons… no matter how much of a hypocrite it makes her."

"Tsu's a slayer."

Fuck, this just got weirder and weirder, didn't it?

But before she could comment on this latest revelation, Dawn stood, tossed the pad on the bed beside her, and said, "Here. Done." She headed for the door without a look back.

"Wait - that's it?" Faith asked, surprising herself by jumping up and taking a step after her.

Dawn stopped and looked back at her, her hand on the doorknob. "You wanted it translated. It's translated. And now I've still got money in my pocket and I'm nowhere near drunk enough yet, so - "

"C'mon, girlfriend, this was just starting to get good," she teased. "Don't hold out on - "

Dawn spun and covered the four steps between them so fast that Faith didn't even have time to react. Hands came up and shoved the slayer's shoulders, and she stumbled back, hit her lower legs against the foot of the bed, and flopped down onto it on her back. It was a sweet move, she had to give her credit for that, but what the hell - ?

A body landed on top of hers, and then Faith's lips were being kissed. No - 'attacked' was more like it. 'Pillaged,' even. It was hard, savage, and a strange tongue forced its way far into her mouth, like it was intending to plant a flag way back in there or something. Faith just let herself enjoy battling back against it for a few moments - she was always up for a good tussle. Then sanity forced its way back into her consciousness, and she wound a hand into Dawn's hair and pulled her head away. "What the fuck?"

The other girl didn't seem at all upset or deterred as she began kissing and licking at the slayer's neck. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" She took a moment to suck against the pulse-point, and as Faith's body began to react all on its own, she knew that that sad, well-intentioned bit of sanity was about to get its ass kicked out the back door and told to go play outside for awhile. "Show up here with some lame story about needing some stupid rock translated - "

"No, that was true!" Faith objected… somehow with enough presence of mind to wonder why the truth even mattered right now.

"Whatever." She clearly didn't care, one way or another. The tongue was suddenly in her ear, and there was a hand on Faith's fly, dexterously - and quickly - managing to get it undone. "You still want this."

Unbelievably, 'I don't think we should,' were the words that rose to her lips, and she just barely managed to hold them in. But she couldn't suppress the chuckle as she suddenly realized that she probably understood B better than she ever had in her life up 'til that moment. So this was what it felt like trying to be the good, responsible one? Damn, no wonder she was in such a bitchy mood all the time

The chuckle was enough to get Dawn to stop, sit up, and glare at her. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Just thinking how completely fucking bizarre my life had to get before I actually found some scruples."

Dawn seemed to consider that for a moment or two, then, with a shrug, reached down and pulled her shirt over her head in one fluid motion. Nothing on underneath. And the surprises just kept on coming. "So… scruples?" she asked, with an impossibly-smug smirk.

"Huh?" Faith barely even heard the question. It had been a long damn time since the sight of a topless chick had left her speechless, but the kid had done a perfect job of knocking her off-balance - been a long time since that had happened, too - and wasn't giving her a chance to get it back again. Faith wasn't sure she _wanted_ to get it back right now.

"Thought so," Dawn agreed, and came back down for another fiery kiss.

As Faith helped tug, pull, and tear at their remaining clothes, her last coherent thought was, _B is gonna be so far beyond pissed if she ever finds out about this… and Sue, too, whoever the fuck she is_… and then her pants came free, and she gave her brain the next couple of hours off…


	3. The Slayer, 日本語

**III - The Slayer, 日本語**

_Now_

It should've been awkward, staying in a relationship with a woman you knew was cheating on you. But it wasn't. She knew that her girlfriend still loved her, and only her.

Some people would laugh at her and say her acceptance made her pathetic or a fool or a doormat. She didn't believe she was any of those. The two of them had simply been together long enough that she knew what her lover needed, and she loved her enough to let her have it. Neither of them were exactly normal - why should they have a normal relationship?

And if she'd just left it like that, it would've stayed slightly odd, and all three of them could've lived mildly-repressively-ever-after. But whatever had possessed her to finally shake the status quo to the ground that one fateful night, she'd never know for certain.

She could try to blame it on her family. She'd never consider it anything but a blessing that her family had moved from Osaka to Seattle when she was four, because she adored her adopted country. But her parents had lived their whole lives in the East. Seeing the way American parents behaved with their children, the open affection they gave them even in public… it had made her own household seem very… cold. She honestly couldn't say if all Japanese parents were that way, since she hadn't known any others she could compare them to, but that didn't change the fact that she could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times her mother and father had ever told her they loved her. They felt it, of course - they must - but she had never really felt it from them.

Finding a woman who _did_ let her feel it, who said it and showed it many times and in a million different little ways each and every day… sometimes she still had to go off and be alone so that she could let her tears of happiness flow freely without worrying they'd be mistaken for something else. She'd do anything for this woman, no matter how… unconventional.

And, from a selfish perspective, she enjoyed being around those intense, positive emotions: passion, lust, desire. Love. The warmth of them helped chase away that last lingering chill left over from her childhood.

Even when she was taking a moment to just bask in them from the sidelines.

* * *

><p><em>Then<em>

Satsu moved stealthily from girder to girder, doing her best to stay hidden from any creatures that might be positioned along the way as lookouts. Her evil-battling companion for the night, however, didn't do stealth.

"What the hell is this place?" Faith asked - in her 'outside' voice - looking up and around at the giant, naked metal framework rising all around. It stretched out on and on in front of them, disappearing into the darkness, the lights of the city far enough away not to be of much help here.

"It was going to be a mall," she answered, biting back the aggravation and not allowing it into her voice. "But it got cancelled or something before they got very far with it."

"And now it's supposed to be some happenin' vamp hotspot? Looks pretty deserted to me." Faith gave it another good look.

Satsu gritted her teeth. She wasn't supposed to have to do this anymore. She was retired. Except that Giles and the new Council didn't actually do 'retired.' Once a slayer, always a slayer. So officially, while she was in college she was in 'semi-active status.' Which meant that she got dragged out of her bed in the middle of the night every few weeks to go out and kill something, because it was an 'emergency' and the two official, active-duty slayers stationed full-time in Los Angeles were busy with some other impending catastrophe.

And, when Faith was in town, too (which seemed like all the time these days), someone halfway around the world with no sense whatsoever of what was going on in their lives thought it was a great idea for them to pair up and go stop the evil together. What fun. Well, tonight everything was coming out into the open. She was determined to end this farce once and for all.

They turned the corner around a huge stack of unused, forgotten building supplies of some kind, and found the six-vampire ambush caused by Faith's big mouth.

Three of them rushed each slayer, and Satsu had just enough time to unsheath her katana, duck under a pair of grasping arms, and slash it across a chest as it flew past at high speed. She heard a high-pitched male scream, and spun around and delivered a back hook-kick to something's jaw as the three creatures stopped and whirled back toward her. No, make that two creatures - the third was down on its knees, clutching the red line that had suddenly been opened from one armpit to the other.

She went smoothly from the kick right into a two-handed upward sweep of her sword, and someone's arm fell away, cut neatly off right below the elbow. That vamp was out of the fight for a moment now, as well.

"I know you're sleeping with my girlfriend," Satsu casually mentioned over one shoulder, and all five vamps - Faith had already dusted one - stopped and turned to face her, then looked over at Faith.

"Huh?" one of them asked, and the American slayer used the distraction to drive a stake into its chest.

"Not exactly true - we've never actually bothered with the sleeping," she answered as the fight started up again.

"You know what I mean." Punch-kick-punch, and then the snap of something's bones breaking.

"Okay, fine - so good for you. And so now I'm supposed to… what, apologize? Promise I'll never see her again?"

"That's what most people would do right now," the other slayer agreed, and took her one uninjured attacker's head off with a single fierce blow. Its head and body both crumbled to dust.

"I'm not most people," Faith shot back, and the faint exploding roar from that direction meant that she was now done to just one opponent.

"Neither am I." Both of the injured vampires were back up and after Satsu again, and she just let her body do its own thing, trusting it would make the right moves. A kick to a kneecap staggered one, another kick to the jaw stunned the other, and a swing of her sword took that one's head off, too. Two down, one to go.

"Yeah? And what's that supposed to mean, Susie? 'Cause if that's your idea of a threat, you need more practice."

The one-armed vamp didn't have much fight left, and she quickly dispatched him, too. "It means I don't want her to stop seeing you," she said, and when she turned back toward Faith, saw that her last vampire was gone now, as well, leaving the two of them alone again.

For just a split-second, there was absolute stunned shock on the other slayer's face. She quickly covered it with a smirk, but Satsu congratulated herself on flapping the unflappable sexpot, even if only briefly.

"You sure you wanna do that?" she asked. "Suppose she decides what she's gettin' over here," she gestured down toward her own body, "is better than she's gettin' over there?"

"Not gonna happen," Satsu told her, finding a smirk of her own to offer in return. "You two have been doing it for… what? Four months now? Five? If she was going to leave me for you, she probably would have by now. She loves me. You're just a safety-valve."

"What are you talking about?" But Faith either wasn't too interested in the answer, or suddenly remembered where they were and why, because she turned and began walking deeper into the huge steel skeleton.

"You're the one she goes to when she starts to freak out," Satsu said, following right along on her heels. "When she realizes she's in a committed relationship, and she has someone in her life again who she loves and depends on, and remembers that she could lose her at any second. She's half-convinced that I'm either going to dump her one day, or get killed doing stuff like this, and she'll be all alone. You're her guarantee that if I'm ever gone, she'll still have someone in her life that she cares about. Of course, if that ever happens she'll have to start seeing someone else on the side to have a replacement ready for you, but I just have this feeling that you won't have a huge problem with that."

Faith snorted in amusement. "Nice theory, college girl - sounds like you went through a textbook or two coming up with that one, huh? Problem is, it's full of shit. Next time check your facts better. 'Care about me?' That kid hates my fuckin' guts. I can see it every time she looks at me." Though she was still behind her, Satsu could see enough of the other woman's face to catch the grin that spread across it. "That's one of the things that makes the sex so good, actually. Finding someone to fuck you who loves you is no big deal - millions of people do that every day. Finding someone to fuck you who can't stand you? Now that's harder to pull off."

Satsu grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face her. "Did you ever even think about putting your ego aside for just two damn seconds and considering that you weren't the one she was hating?"

Faith wrenched her arm free, but didn't turn and take off again. Yet. "No? Enlighten me, then - who was it? You?"

"Herself, you idiot!" the younger slayer nearly screamed at her, forgetting all about stealthy for the moment. "She's with someone she loves, in the first serious relationship she's ever had, and she's cheating on me! And because she actually has a conscience, unlike some people, she feels guilty as hell about that!"

She watched the words hit home - hard enough even to cause the you-don't-have-a-conscience dig to fly right by, unnoticed. "No, you're wrong," she said in the quietest voice she'd used all night. Maybe the quietest voice Satsu had ever heard from her. "She hates me." She almost seemed to be trying to convince herself of this fact.

"She doesn't hate you, dumbass." Satsu lowered her own voice now, as well. "You're one of her idols. Believe me, it's been more than a year now - I've heard _all_ about you… a lot more than I ever wanted to. She's had a crush on you since before she even really 'existed,' whether she even realizes it herself or not." When she saw the alarm start to spread across Faith's face, she rolled her eyes and added, "Relax - she doesn't love you. She'd never let herself. It would be pointless, wouldn't it? But she still cares about you. Still needs you."

"If there's a point to this somewhere in the near future, would you mind hurrying it the hell up? I've still got some vampires to slay, and the bars don't close for another…" She checked her watch. "Two hours."

"I don't want her to stop seeing you," Satsu explained. "If I asked her to, she would, and she'd resent me for it, and eventually that would be the end of us. You mean too much to her now to just walk away from. But I'm sick of the two of you sneaking around behind my back."

"So you're saying you wanna have a threesome?" Faith asked with a grin that was almost a leer.

"Yes," Satsu answered matter-of-factly.

The grin faltered a bit. "I was just kidding."

"I wasn't."

It took a moment for Faith to put the façade of confidence fully back in place, but once she did she took a step back and made a very obvious show of checking the other woman out. "Well, look at little Susie Q. Does D know her girl's got a freaky side?"

"I haven't talked to her about this, if that's what you're asking." She bit back a smile as she thought back on some of the things she and Dawn had done together. Yeah, her 'freaky side' wasn't exactly a secret between them anymore. And the funny thing? Dawn was probably even more of a freak than her, and Faith apparently didn't even realize it. Yet.

"Why the hell would I agree to it?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Satsu countered.

"Good point." She was silent for a few seconds, and Satsu could almost hear the wheels turning inside her head. "I don't know. Me 'n her always have a wicked good time, but I barely know you. Plus, you two are so tight you're practically married. Sure, I've had threesomes - and moresomes - before, but none of the people in 'em actually cared anything about any of the others. I don't wanna be the third wheel, mostly left out and just sitting back watching you two go at it - hot as that probably is."

"We wouldn't - "

"I'll think about it," Faith cut her off. "Maybe I'll talk to D, see what she thinks. But hey, didn't we come here to kill some stuff?"

Satsu wanted to argue, to press the issue, but what was the point? It was more likely to just get her turned down flat right now than get her the answer she wanted. 'I'll think about it' was still better than 'no.' But things couldn't go on like this anymore. She was sick of being lied to, but even more than that, she hated to see the way the guilt ate at Dawn in the days afterward. Satsu wished that Dawn's feelings for Faith didn't exist at all. She wished that Dawn hadn't had such a difficult childhood, hadn't lost so many people, hadn't been burdened with these fears of abandonment that would probably be with her for the rest of her life. But wishing wouldn't make it all go away. The one way she did know how to help her was to drag her secrets out into the light, and to try to get rid of the guilt and the shame that came from sneaking around behind her girlfriend's back. She loved Dawn, more than anything. She didn't want to share her. But she loved her enough _to_ share her, if that was what it took to save her emotional well-being.

It had been a difficult decision, but she'd finally made it. Faith balking at it, however, hadn't been in the plan.

They walked on for another minute or two, and came to a long, narrow trailer, with a dirty, faded sign for a construction company tacked to the side. The windows had all been broken and covered with heavy curtains on the inside, and the doors at either end hung askew on their hinges.

"I'm thinking that place has got 'vamp nest' written all over it," Faith said, still without bothering to whisper. Satsu had finally had enough.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "Have you _ever_ heard the phrase 'element of surprise?'"

"They're vampires. They can smell us coming from a hundred feet away, no matter how quiet we are," the older slayer pointed out. "Besides," she smirked, "I'm good enough to kick their ass even when they know I'm coming. But hey, if you think you need to sneak up on 'em…"

Satsu pushed past her and stormed up to one of the entrances. She knew Faith was just trying to get a reaction out of her, and she was mad at herself for giving it to her, but now she just wanted to get this over with and get back to her dorm room, where Dawn would be waiting for her.

Speaking of waiting for her: the first vamp lunged for her before she'd even gone through the doorway. But with the mood Satsu was in, it never had a chance. A punch to the nose, a kick to the groin, and a sword through the neck sent it on its way.

More vampires - way more than should fit in that skinny little trailer - fell upon her as soon as she stepped inside, burying her beneath the mass of growling, clawing bodies.

Slowly the pile began to dwindle, as one figure after another vanished in a cloud of dust. When the last one was gone, Satsu stood up, a wooden stake in one hand, a bloody knife in the other, breathing hard and looking about as lethal as someone her size possibly could. At the other end of the room, brushing away the dusty remains of the pair she'd just killed, Faith stood grinning at her. "Damn. Now that's hot," the other slayer told her.

"What?" She'd had to discard her sword at the bottom of all that, and spotted it nearby. She returned it to the scabbard on her back, and put her other two weapons away, as well.

"I get it now." Faith took a few steps toward her, looking her up and down as she did. "What B saw in you. What D still sees."

"What?" she asked again. That dark _thing_ that rose up inside her whenever she was slaying was still very close to the surface right now, and her human brain was a little slow to track the things going on around her. When she got like this, after a good night of killing things, the blood seemed to just sizzle through her veins, tingling through every square inch of her, heating up the area between her legs until it felt like it was melting down her thighs and into her shoes. Going home and having sex with Dawn until the sun came up was always a great cure for it.

Suddenly Faith was standing right in front of her, staring at her with not-quite-human lust in her eyes that she wasn't even trying to hide. "You feel it, don't you?"

"What?" That seemed to be the only English word her brain remembered just now.

"_It_," Faith said. "The connection. The thing B's spent years trying to repress… most of the time," she added, remembering who she was talking to. "I used to think it was just a me-and-her thing, but it's not. It's deeper than that. I've been around those new girls - I've felt it. So have they. It's an all-of-us thing." She smirked. "Red's spell made two-thousand new slayers, and a thousand new dykes. When they're around each other, anyway."

"Yeah, I was pre-dyked already," she replied, but it was barely more than a mumble. Most of her brain had just been thrown back into the memories of her early days as a slayer, training at the compound with all the others. There'd been forty girls and forty beds in her barracks, and after the first few days, ten or fifteen of those beds were going unused every night. She'd never participated in the fun or felt any sort of 'connection' to those other girls… but maybe that's because she'd been too busy swooning over the woman in charge to notice anyone else.

She was startled out of the past by Faith's lips on hers, Faith's tongue in her mouth, Faith's fist in her hair. Her first instinctive reaction to the sudden uninvited move was to spit "Bitch!", shove her away, and slap her hard enough that it might have broken a normal human's cheekbone…

…Then the red haze that she'd come to associate with battle descended on her…

_(the Slayer,_ something inside her whispered. _the essence of all you are. the blood-cry, the penetrating wound. the nature of the beast. Faith is you. you are Buffy. Buffy is Kennedy Kennedy is Vi Vi is Rona Rona is Chao-Ahn is Leah Rowena Sarah melanie michelle kristin …) _

…And when she became aware of the world again, she had Faith pinned against the trailer wall, it was her tongue in the American slayer's mouth, and her hands were full of breasts larger than any she'd ever held before, the heat from them coming easily through the thin material of the black AC/DC t-shirt. There was a thigh between her parted legs, rocking deliciously up into her, and -

"No," she managed to gasp, and somehow found the strength to pull away.

"'No?'" Faith echoed in a voice that didn't quite sound like her own. For a second Satsu believed that she was going to ignore the refusal, jump her, and try to keep going, but she seemed to get control of herself, and asked, "Why the fuck not?"

"Not here. If we're going to do this, you know where it has to be. You know my terms."

Faith stared blankly back at her for a moment, then began to grin. "Fine - whatever. Let's just hurry up and get there before we both pop."

* * *

><p>Dawn was lying spread-eagled in the center of the double bed, pissed at Giles for dragging her 'retired' girlfriend away from her for the night yet again, and pissed at her girlfriend for not standing up to him and saying no. Satsu didn't even want that life anymore. She'd gotten the Tokyo squad through a time of crisis, and even enjoyed her leadership position for a little while, but then two girls under her command had been killed on a mission she'd sent them on, and that, combined with the way things had gone with Buffy had been enough to disillusion her from the slayer business. She'd resigned without a second look back, and she was focused now on her dream of becoming a heart surgeon. She should be home studying, not out doing other people's dirty work. If someone died on the operating table one day because Satsu snipped the wrong thingy, it would be all Giles' fault. And her sister's… somehow.<p>

Dawn sighed, and reached for her laptop. She had a paper she'd barely started that was due next week, and that would keep her busy until Tsu came home -

Ooh, never mind, because here she was now!

"Hey, babe," Dawn greeted, giving her a quick look-over to make sure no vamps had somehow broken something or pulled anything important off. "I missed - "

Satsu stepped aside, and Faith came in behind her.

No. Oh, no.

It had to happen eventually. Tsu was too smart to fool forever. But Dawn had just hoped it would last… a little while longer.

So, now would Tsu just break up with her, or freak out and kill all three of them? And why was Faith here? Was she going to end it with her, too?

If that happened, Dawn would be all alone. She tried to ignore the utter panic that this thought caused.

"Tsu, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry - !" she began to blubber, but before she could say any more Satsu was on the bed beside her.

"Shh," she said, placing a finger to Dawn's lips, then replaced the finger with lips of her own.

Dawn was too stunned to do anything but kiss her back. Her body could do that all on its own, which was good because it left her brain free to try to figure out what to say next. Then the kiss ended, and she noticed that Faith was already almost completely naked over by the door, and that was very strange and meant that now she'd have to think up all new words. What the - ?

"I know you need her," Satsu whispered, and softly stroked her lover's cheek. "I've known that for a long time. But what I didn't realize until tonight is that maybe a part of me needs her, too."

Faith had a slightly different way of expressing it. "It's every wet dream you've had for the last five months come true, D," she said, and jumped up onto the bed and came down on Dawn's lap. "And you two are both way the hell overdressed," she added, and made a grab for Satsu's shirt.


	4. All Lines Intersect

**IV - All Lines Intersect**

_Now_

It should've been awkward, the three of them together. That first time had definitely been strange. It was hard to believe it was really happening - Dawn had been half-convinced that no one actually had threesomes in real-life, that they were just make-believe creations of sexy fiction… and porn. But it had happened, and if it felt strange, it also felt strangely right. They both cared about her - one of them even loved her, and the other might have, if her earlier life experiences hadn't forever burned out of her the ability to ever trust anyone with that emotion - and they both also shared a special connection of their own, one that Dawn couldn't experience with them, or even really ever understand. It was dark and primal and had nothing to do with love whatsoever, but still, it was a connection. And a powerful one.

She reached over to get a bottle of water from the nightstand, and lay back drinking it as she watched the two slayers thrust against each other. They were violent, almost vicious together - far more so than they could ever be with the more fragile Dawn. They cursed, scratched, even sometimes bit one another… then seemed to be almost totally unaware of it afterward. Hot as hell, but it couldn't be healthy - y'know, mentally-speaking. And maybe that's why this worked so well: each of them provided something that the other two needed. Between the three of them, they almost added up to two normal, sane, well-adjusted people.

The slayers both came, together - loudly - and from a (very) freshly-inflicted injury somewhere a couple of drops of blood landed on lightly-tanned skin. The ferocity seemed to leak out of them almost instantly (though it would be back again; it always came back) and after a few moments of silent recovery, they both looked over at her.

"Aww, someone looks left out," Satsu teased, and reached for her free hand.

"And we definitely can't have that," Faith agreed. "Get your hot ass over here."

Dawn giggled and had just enough time to put her water back down before four impossibly-strong arms grabbed her and yanked her into the middle of the bed…

* * *

><p>What <em>was<em> going to be awkward was telling her sister. Her sister, who had definitely slept with one of these women, and Dawn had always had suspicions about her and the other, and admitting the current state of things probably wouldn't be the most popular revelation ever. Well, she could tell everyone about Satsu, of course. Satsu was the "real" relationship, the one you could take out in public and hold hands with and introduce to your family (Willow, Xander, and Kennedy had already known about the two of them for awhile; it was just that one other important person in her life who she hadn't quite figured out how to break it to yet). Satsu was the one that could last.

Except that Dawn wanted them _both_ to last. All three of them wanted that. There was something different about this, and she knew they all felt it. Weird, strange, unique, but also special. And right. Faith's slaying took her all over the world these days, but something kept bringing her back to LA two or three times a month, and Dawn didn't think it was just the city's higher-than-average demon population. None of them lived safe or normal lives. They could all die at any moment, and so they deserved to be able to take whatever happiness they could find, however crazy other people might find it, or however pissed someone's older sister might get if she found out about it.

But there was no reason to tell her about it yet. Or, y'know… ever.

Faith's lips on her neck, Satsu's teeth on her nipple, and someone's hand between her legs banished all thoughts of her sister from her brain, and she allowed herself to sink back into the bliss of the moment…

* * *

><p>But the one thing that actually turned out to be awkward was having a girlfriend who couldn't be bothered to remember to lock the door when she was the last to arrive, and a big sister who thought that if nobody answered her insanely-soft knock, assumed it was okay to just let herself into your room.<p>

Dawn had Faith straddling her face, and Satsu with her tongue deeper inside her than any human's tongue really should be able to go (when they'd first started going out, Dawn had wondered if the other girl might be part lizard-demon, and even done a tiny spell to make sure), when all of a sudden Faith's hips froze mid-rock, and Satsu's tongue went away.

"Hey!" Dawn whined. She'd liked that tongue exactly where it was. Lizard-demon or not, it fit her just right.

Then she registered not just the stillness, but also the silence. Faith's crotch still filled most of her view, so she tried to scoot a little to her left to see what was going on.

Buffy was standing in the open doorway, her jaw dropped nearly to her shoes as she took in the scene before her of the three naked women tangled together amid the ruins of the bedclothes. A bag of Chinese food dangled from her hand, already long-forgotten. They stared at her, she stared at them, and in the dead silence that stretched out between them, clear as a bell from somewhere down the hall a girl could be heard yelling at someone named Mark for spilling soda on her computer.

Dawn was the first to break the spell, reaching unhurriedly for a handful of sheet and pulling it over herself. "Hey, Buffy. Um… surprise? You brought food?"

Her sister dropped the bag, slapped both hands across her eyes, and turned and wandered back out into the hall, mumbling, "OhGodOhGodOhGod…" over and over again.

Satsu sighed, got up, and closed the door so that no other passers-by would look in and see the sights. As she returned to the bed, she picked up the Chinese takeout and peered inside. "So do we talk to her now, or later?" she wondered, and reached in for one of the cartons.

Dawn echoed her sigh. "Now, I guess." She sat up on her elbows as Faith climbed off of her. "I'll go do it," she decided, and looked around at the floor by the bed. "Can someone find me some pants?"

_**Fin**_

* * *

><p>Author's Note: That's the end of the fic proper, and originally I planned on leaving it there, and allowing the reader to use their imagination to decide what happened next. But… it just felt a little too unresolved, and I started to have some ideas on how the next scene might go, and, well, I ended up writing not just one but TWO(!) epilogues. So read on…<p> 


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A light bit of cloth was thrown at her from somewhere. It hit Dawn in the face and draped itself over her head, chest, and shoulders. They were pajama bottoms, and she yanked them on as she crawled and stumbled her way down the bed through the mess of sheets. At the bottom, she tripped and nearly landed on the floor face-first, but one of her girlfriends shot out an arm and caught her. "Thanks," she said absently, without even seeing who'd saved her, and noticed that she'd almost face-planted on a crumpled-up shirt. Scooping that up, she pulled it over her head as she leapt to her feet and grabbed for the doorknob. The shirt had some strange Japanese manga character on it, and she only realized when it was halfway on that it was Satsu's, and too small for her. It was too small for Satsu, too, actually, and she was more petite than Dawn was, but she didn't have time to turn around and search for another. It would just have to do. She had to catch up to Buffy, because if she made it out of the building and disappeared, Dawn just had this sinking feeling that it would be a long, long time before they spoke to each other again.

Still barefoot, she threw open the door and raced out into the hallway.

Her haste turned out not to be necessary. Buffy was alone in the lounge area down at the end of the hall, standing there facing the wall. She still had one hand to her face - on her forehead now - and was shaking her head from side to side. As she drew closer, Dawn thought her sister might be muttering something, but if she was it was too faint to make out.

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, no! No, you don't!" Buffy practically exploded as she whirled around on her. "After that, you don't get to be the first one to ask questions."

"No, I think I do get to." As what had just happened began to sink in, Dawn felt the embarrassment burning under her skin, from the top of her head right down to her sockless toes, but she wasn't going to let her sister push her around. Not anymore. Not over this. "I'm in my fourth semester here now, Buffy, and this is the first time you've _ever_ come to visit me. I know you're really busy and everything, but that's still pretty crappy. God, I've been dating Tsu-Satsu," she corrected herself, figuring pet-names wouldn't be too well-received right now, "practically since we got here, and living with her for months now - and you didn't even know." Granted, Dawn had tried her best to keep it a secret from her, but why confuse the issue with facts right now? "Maybe if you'd come by months ago you'd have caught us at a better time." It was just an expression, but it still caused her to wince when she thought back on the last couple of minutes, and the heat from the embarrassment went up another couple of degrees.

Buffy's mouth opened… then closed. Then opened again… and closed. It happened a couple of more times before Dawn finally got tired of it and asked, "What?" She really didn't want this scene to last any longer than necessary.

"I can't believe you stole my girlfriend!" Buffy accused.

Though Dawn knew she was risking a punch in the nose, sister or not, she still couldn't help smirking and asking, "Which one?"

"What?(!)"

Okay, no punch, but still probably not the best thing to have said to help this situation along. Dawn sighed and turned her eyes up toward the ceiling for a moment, as if looking for advice from above. "Satsu was never your girlfriend, Buffy. She was just someone you slept with once."

"Twice!"

"Okay, twice. Wait - twice?" That was news to her. "Whatever." She waved it away. Wasn't important now… though she'd definitely be asking Tsu about that later. "Point is - "

"The point is, you don't steal your sister's ex! That's totally against the rule!"

"What rule?"

"The rule! There's a rule. With the… rule-yness, and… and… It's just icky, okay?"

"No. Not okay. You never really cared about her, Buffy. You were never interested in having an actual relationship with her. She was just someone you could use to make yourself feel better, because it was nice that someone finally wanted you again. And because you hadn't gotten laid in, what, two years? By then, any body - warm _or_ cold - would do, right? Well, sorry - that doesn't earn you infinite dibs."

"'An actual relationship?'" Buffy mocked. Their voices were rising, but so far no other students had poked their heads out of their rooms to watch the show. "So that's what I just… just saw?" Her face seemed to turn a little paler, as the mental image must've just come back to her. "That's not what it looked like."

"You wouldn't know what it looked like."

Her sister opened her mouth to respond, but something behind Dawn caught her attention. She turned and saw Satsu and Faith coming down the hall to join them. Their eclectic mix of fashions proved that they'd dressed almost as hurriedly as Dawn had, and the looks on their faces showed that they were almost as embarrassed by everything as the two Summers girls were. No, wait - that wasn't quite true. Satsu looked embarrassed. Faith just looked bored… and annoyed at having her fun interrupted.

And maybe a _little_ bit embarrassed.

"Hey, B. Uh, thanks for the food."

"This is all your fault, isn't it?" Buffy asked, taking a step towards the older of the other two slayers.

"Huh?"

"Admit it: you probably thought it would be funny as hell to drag my little sister into your sick, perverted - "

"Don't you dare say another word, or accuse her of anything," Dawn warned, and stepped between them. "Not until you know what you're talking about."

"I know what I saw." The sight of Faith was just making Buffy even madder, and Dawn realized she was going to have to get Faith out of there before someone got hurt.

"No. You don't," she told her, trying to sound soothing. "It's not like that - "

"Save it, Dawn," Buffy snapped, not taking her glare from her off-again, on-again enemy.

"Hey!" Now Faith was the one who took the threatening step forward. "You need to chill out, B. Instead of playing your usual role as Queen Bitch, why don't you take a second to listen to what the kid has to say? Maybe you'd learn something for once." She paused, seemed to consider her next few words, and then added with a smirk, "Or else lose the clothes and come on back to bed with us. I _guarantee_ you'll learn something."

Satsu murmured, "Eww," at the same time as Dawn exclaimed, "Oh, gross!" Buffy didn't say anything - just covered the last remaining distance between them and punched Faith hard enough to drop her to one knee.

She stayed down for a moment, but didn't appear very repentant as she got back up, wiped her nose with the back of one hand, and checked it for blood. "Hey, worth a shot. But seriously, Buffy, even if it's not one of us, you need to find _somebody _to uncork that bottle of yours for you. 'Tense' doesn't even begin to describe you right now. It's not healthy. High blood-pressure an' shit." She looked away from the glower she was still getting and said to Satsu, "I'm gonna go play some Xbox - wanna come with?"

"Yeah. In a minute."

The three of them watched her until she disappeared back through the door into Dawn's and Satsu's room. When they all turned back toward each other, some of the tension seemed to have left with her.

"Sorry," Dawn told her sister. "You know what she's like."

"Yeah. It's actually kinda reassuring - in a weird way. No matter how much everything else changes, Faith is always Faith." Her gaze finally landed squarely on Satsu, and she even allowed herself to smile a little. "Hey. It's good to see you again." Cheeks instantly turning bright red, she hastened to add, "I mean, not 'see you' see you, 'cause I wasn't looking. At anyone. Or… anything."

Satsu grinned. "I think I know what you mean. It's good to see you again, too. And I'm sorry if we embarrassed you."

"Wait - _you're_ actually apologizing to _her_?" Dawn asked, and hey, look: some of that tension was back for a curtain call. "Screw that. She doesn't deserve your apology until you get one from her." She rounded on her sister and stepped close enough so that she'd be able to look down at her from her massive two-inch height advantage. "Seriously, do you have _any_ idea how much you hurt her?"

"Dawn - " Satsu began, and put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"No, Tsu, it's about time she heard this." She stared back down at Buffy, and continued. "You knew she loved you - you _knew_ it - but you slept with her anyway, even though you never had any intention of it ever being anything more. That was months before she and I met here at school, and she was _still_ in pain from it. It almost kept her from ever going out with me, and if… if I'd missed…" She let the sentence trail off, and turned around and took Satsu's hand. Her face hidden from Buffy for a moment, she used her free hand to dab at the corners of her eyes. When she'd collected herself, she looked back at her sister. "Don't you dare call her your girlfriend again - ever. She never was. But she is _my_ girlfriend, and I love her. So deal with it."

The two slayers just stared at her in open-mouthed shock.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Buffy finally sputtered. "I didn't mean… I mean, Satsu, I never wanted to hurt… I was just…" She went on with a few more bits of disjointed apologies/explanations before Satsu at last took pity on her and interrupted.

"Really, Buffy, it's okay. Yeah, it hurt, but I'm one of those who believe everything happens for a reason. If you and I had tried to make it work, I would never have had this," she said, and raised Dawn's clasped hand to her lips and kissed the back of it. "Or that," she added, motioning with her head back toward the room where Faith had retreated. "Speaking of which, I'd better go keep an eye on her. I don't wanna have to spend another three-hundred dollars because she got blown to electronic bits and decided it was all the console's fault again."

"I thought she paid you back for that?" Dawn asked.

"She did… after bugging her about it for two months. I don't need the hassle a second time. Goodbye, Buffy," she said to the other slayer. "It really was good to see you again." She gave Dawn a final encouraging smile, and headed back toward their room.

"Okay, I admit it," Buffy said when they were alone again. "I'm confused."

"So am I - sort of," Dawn agreed, and sank down onto one of the sofas arranged around the lounge's large coffeetable. On the wall, a TV played a soap opera with the volume off. "And I'm in the middle of it."

"Ack! Please!" She slapped her hands over her ears. "I don't need any more visuals than the one I've already got, thank you. Even that's probably going to be enough to put me in therapy for the next year."

"Well, I didn't mean it like that," Dawn told her once her hands had come back down.

"Tell me that this is just a one-time, flukey thing," Buffy almost begged, and took a seat at the other end of Dawn's sofa. "Tell me you're dating Satsu, and I just had the incredibly bad timing of catching the two of you in a wild, adventurous moment - "

"I'm with both of them," Dawn interrupted. She was a little proud of herself for how calm and even her voice came out. Not a hint of a tremble. "And they're with each other… and me, obviously. I know it sounds weird, but it's what we want."

"Dawn… you can't date two people at the same time." Buffy was looking at her as if she'd just turned into a plant. A plant that wanted to simultaneously date two other plants… who were also dating each other. Did plants have disapproving older sisters?

"Why not? And don't start talking about 'rules' again," she warned before Buffy could start that lame crap a second time. "It works for us, okay? It's not like it's something that we've only been doing for a week or two. It's been awhile. We're serious about it - all three of us."

"It's just…" Buffy struggled to find an argument, to put words to all the crazy thoughts running through her head. This wasn't a conversation she'd ever expected to have to have with anyone in her life, ever. Ever. "Ah. A-ha!" She snapped her fingers. "What are you going to do about… about weddings and stuff? Have you even thought about that?"

"When I said it's been awhile, I didn't mean quite that long," Dawn told her with a small grin. "Besides, it's not even legal here, remember?"

"No, I mean other people's. It's legal in Europe, and I don't think it's going to be that much longer before Willow and Kennedy have a 'big announcement.' So when they invite you to their wedding, what are you going to do? Bring two dates?"

"Assuming Faith's willing to get dressed up and go, sure. Why not?" She shrugged.

"You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Dawn asked again.

"Because it's not fair! It's not fair that you have two beautiful women and I don't have anyone! You're monopolizing the whole dating pool! And… And even if you were going to do something this crazy and date two people at the same time, isn't at least one of them supposed to be a boy? What happened to boys, Dawn?"

"I still like boys," she said with another shrug. "I like Satsu and Faith a lot more. Besides, isn't it better this way? I'm not dating _any_ boys, which means now there's one extra out there for you."

"Okay, well…" Buffy's voice faltered for a second as she tried to dredge up some new line of reasoning. "Then when it is time for you to get married, how are you going to choose between them? You get mad at me for hurting Satsu - okay, fine. Guilty as charged. But aren't you worried about breaking the heart of whichever one you don't choose? Especially when she's a slayer and prone to outbursts of violence?"

"Who says I have to choose?"

"You can't marry two people at the same time!" It was tough to decide whether Buffy sounded exasperated or horrified.

"Mormons do," Dawn pointed out.

"So you're telling me all three of you are going to become gay Mormons?"

"If we have to."

"This is insane."

"Stop saying that! See, this is why I didn't want to tell you - I knew you wouldn't get it. You don't even wanna _try_ to get it. For once in my life I'm totally, completely happy, and all you can do is show up and tell me that I shouldn't be."

"Then make me get it, Dawn! 'Cause I do want you to be happy - more than anything - but you haven't explained it at all - "

"I love them!" she blurted out… and the shock on Buffy's face was only outdone by the shock on Dawn's own. She knew she loved Satsu. She'd known that for a long time now, but… Faith? That was a whole new concept. And yet… "Yeah, I love them," she repeated, trying the words on for size, and somehow they seemed to fit just right.

"Dawn." Buffy had gone from flustered to mad, back to flustered, then to shocked, and now she just seemed concerned for her little sister. "Faith's not the type who loves people. I think this whole thing is… 'bizarre' isn't even a big enough word… but if it's what you want and it makes you happy, you know I'll support you. But I also don't want to see you get hurt. I don't want you giving Faith more than she's capable of giving you in return."

Dawn scooted a little closer along the couch and took her sister's hand. "I know I haven't told you this enough, Buffy, but I really do appreciate everything you've done for me - taking care of me and keeping me safe… especially after Mom… But I'm not a kid anymore. You can't protect me forever."

"That's a big sister's job," she offered with a soft, teasing smile.

"I don't think Faith loves me back," Dawn explained. "Or loves Satsu, either. But I think maybe she could. Someday. Maybe nobody else has ever given her a chance - or a reason - to let her love them before. I do know that she cares about us. A lot. It started out as only about the sex - " Buffy's face squinched up; she _really_ didn't want to hear this part. " - but it's way more than that now. Maybe it'll turn out to be a mistake. Maybe me and Tsu will even turn out to be a mistake. But I'm an adult now, and even though I'll always appreciate your advice, I have the right to make my own mistakes."

Buffy was silent for a long time as she thought all this over. Dawn didn't want to just stare at her, so she pretended to watch the pictures flashing by on the silent TV screen, while stealing surreptitious glances at her sister every few seconds.

"What do you think Mom would say?" was what finally came out of Buffy's mouth. God, could she possibly have picked a less-relevant question?

"I don't know. I hope she'd be happy that I'm happy." Dawn hadn't really given it much thought.

"What do you think Dad will say?"

Dawn snickered, a little bitterly. That was only slightly less irrelevant than the one about their mom. "Yeah, there's something I don't think I have to worry about happening anytime soon."

"Don't be so sure."

"What?"

"It seems like about a million years ago now, but that's actually the reason I came to see you. Dad called me yesterday. He's moving back to LA, and wants to have lunch with us this weekend. I was in the neighborhood - well, New York; close enough - and thought you and I should talk about it before we decided. I didn't want to do it on the phone, and I had to fly to Australia soon, anyway, and so, well… here I am."

"Oh. Wow." Dawn felt as surprised as Buffy must have when she'd walked in on the three of them - No, on second thought, probably nothing could make her _that_ surprised. It was still a shock, though. "So… what do you think we should do?"

"Honestly? Whatever you want to do, I'll go along with. If you wanna meet with him, I'll stay in town for a few days, and we'll go. If you don't want to, I'll be on a plane in five hours, and I'll call him from thirty-thousand feet over the Pacific and tell him we can't make it."

"I don't know if I wanna make that decision all by myself," Dawn admitted. "You're the big sister, after all."

"But you're an adult now, remember?"

"Can't I still be a kid for this one?"

"No. But maybe we can be adults together," Buffy said. "Okay, my own opinion is that we should probably go. If it doesn't go great, we don't have to do it a second time. But it would kinda be nice to have family again besides just each other, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe," Dawn agreed reluctantly. "All right, well, if you go, I guess I'll go with you."

"Okay." Buffy gave her hand one soft, final squeeze before letting it go. "So… then I'll just… call him back." She hesitated, then asked, "But do me one favor?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess: don't bring Satsu or Faith?"

"I just think the first time we see him should be just a family thing. It'll probably be awkward enough already even with only the three of us."

"But what if he asks if I have boyfriend? 'Cause I'm sure he will. Can I tell him I'm in a serious relationship with two other women, one of whom is your sort-of-ex-girlfriend?" she asked with an evil grin.

"If he asks you if you have a boyfriend, I'll set my hair on fire as a distraction, and then grab you and run away."

"He'll probably be proud," Dawn said. "Satsu's studying to become a doctor, and don't all parents want their daughters to marry doctors?"

"And what about Faith? Do most parents also want their daughters to marry ex-cons?"

"Well… when that comes up, I'll re-light your hair on fire and change the subject," Dawn decided.

They both laughed, and when the laughter had died away they were smiling at each other. "I still don't get it," Buffy told her. "I have a feeling maybe I never will. But… you're happy?"

"I'm _very_ happy," Dawn beamed.

"Then I'm happy, too."

"Thank you. Now - you wanna come eat the food before it all gets cold? You're the one that paid for it."

"I'm not sure." Buffy wrinkled her nose. "If we go back in there, are they really gonna be playing videogames, or are they going to be all naked? Again? I really don't wanna see that twice in one… ever."

"Probably videogames. It's weird - after they kill stuff, they usually wanna have sex. After we have sex, they usually wanna play videogames."

"Too much information!" Buffy cried, with her hands over her ears again.

"What? It's way healthier than cigarettes," Dawn muttered, then pried Buffy's hands away from her head and promised, "I'll peek through the door first, to make sure the coast is clear."

"Okay. Good plan."

They stood up, and Dawn surprised them both by leaning forward and folding her sister into a tight hug. "I love you, Buffy."

"I love you, too."

They were almost to the room's front door when Dawn stopped and looked back, suddenly worried. "Um, if we all sit down to eat together, you're not gonna try to, like… kill Faith, are you?"

"I don't know - can you make sure she's not going to make any more disgusting suggestions… or, y'know, say anything at all?"

"You know nobody can make Faith do anything."

"Then no promises."

Dawn groaned and reached for the doorknob. "Oh, this should be fun."

"But look on the bright side," Buffy said with a helpful smile. "If things get all fighty, you've still got your other girlfriend there to break it up."

"Maybe I'll get lucky and Faith'll have already eaten all the food," Dawn ventured hopefully.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Just like with the last chapter, I originally wrote this fully expecting it to be the last part (that's what an epilogue is, after all, right?). The only reason I even did this one was to wrap up the slight cliffhangeriness of the original ending. But then it just didn't seem right to end this story on such a long Dawn &amp; Buffy scene, with so little of our other two girls in it. So I then did a <em>second<em> epilogue, with plenty of Dawn, Satsu, & Faith. So continue on to Chapter 6.


	6. Epilogue II

**Epilogue II**

_Two months later_

Seagulls squawked and whirled overhead, quick flashes of white against a brilliant blue sky. The Pacific Ocean crashed in, wave after wave, the sound of each one drowned out by the noise of the happy crowd up above. A soft breeze blew in off the ocean, just enough to chase away the worst of the heat and leave the air pleasantly warm. The calendar insisted it was still spring, but on this day nature was doing an Oscar-worthy impression of mid-summer.

Dawn let her eyes wander around, taking in the whole scene, and wondered if there'd ever been a day as good as this one in the whole of human existence. Perfect weather, food in her tummy and a pleasantly-faint buzz from the beer she'd had for lunch, and the sight of her two girlfriends coming towards her along the Santa Monica Pier.

One was small, slight, and Asian, still wearing the bikini top from that morning's trip to the beach, with a loose tank top over it, cut off to show her toned stomach and the little Jigglypuff dangling from her bellybutton, and white shorts and pink-and-white sneakers with no socks to complete the ensemble. For a Japanese girl from Seattle, California sure looked good on her.

The other was also small but a bit more womanly, American, dressed in boots, tight black jeans, black motorcycle jacket, and designer sunglasses. It was an outfit that was probably too warm for the day, but she didn't even seem to notice.

The two of them couldn't possibly have looked more different, but they also couldn't have been more beautiful, and Dawn knew she loved them both like she'd never loved anything else in her whole life.

They made their way through the crowd and around the various street performers. Satsu stopped to admire the silver robot man for a moment or two, then made a comment that caused Faith to laugh. Satsu gave the older slayer a quick, teasing kiss on the cheek, then they started walking again, Faith's arm slung easily around the other girl's shoulders (Faith didn't do the hand-holding thing).

"What are you grinning about?" Satsu asked when they'd finally come close enough to be heard.

"Was I?" Dawn hadn't even noticed. "Just thinking that life is a good thing. Y'know, if you're us."

"Told you you shoulda come with us, D," Faith said, and jerked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the collection of amusement park rides looming behind her.

"Uh-uh. It's not just a rollercoaster - it's a rollercoaster over the ocean. That means you have to worry about getting seasick, too. You two wouldn't be smiling like that right now if you were wearing that hotdog I had for lunch."

"Technically, the rollercoaster's above the beach, not the water," Satsu pointed out. "And as coasters go, it really was pretty tame."

"If you say so," she agreed with a shrug. Tame or not, rollercoasters weren't her thing. "Lemme know when you wanna go on the ferris wheel. That's way more my speed."

"Yeah, later," Faith said, apparently not thrilled by that idea. "But right now, come on." She took hold of Dawn's arm and pulled her up off the bench, then began dragging her back toward the park. Dawn managed to grab hold of Satsu's hand as she went past, and they made a little train as they wove through the mass of milling, laughing people. Dawn tried not to pout. She was curious about where they were going, but what could Faith be more excited about than the idea of the three of them making out at the top of the ferris wheel? It had to be something pretty good.

Faith turned her arm loose when they got to the midway.

"Okay… what are we doing here?" she asked, looking around at the different game booths. This definitely didn't look like more fun than ferris wheel smoochies.

"What do you think?" Faith replied, and walked over to one of the nearest ones. "I'm gonna win you some shi - stuff," she caught herself when she noticed a family with two young kids walking past. She plunked down some cash, and the man in charge of the booth gave her a handful of beanbags.

"Oh, nice," Satsu accused, hands on hips. "You're going to win something for her, but not for me?"

Faith just grinned at her. "Win your own. Your aim's as good as mine. Well, _almost_ as good as mine," she corrected herself, then turned and knocked over the three stacked bottles on her very first throw. She accepted her prize, a stuffed pink bunny, and gave it right to Dawn. Then looked at the other slayer with a challenging smirk on her face.

Satsu marched right over to the booth and put down some money of her own. A moment later, Dawn had a small stuffed bear to keep the bunny company.

When Faith stepped back up, Dawn knew this wasn't going to go well. She suspected that this was probably what Faith had had in mind all along: not winning things for her honey, but dragging her other honey into a showdown. The two of them were ridiculously competitive with one another, about all kinds of stuff - videogames, drinking games, sparring, sex… you name it. At first Dawn had thought it was all about her, and they were each trying to appear better than the other in Dawn's eyes. But gradually she'd realized that it didn't have anything to do with her at all, and it was just one of the ways they related to each other. It was sort of cute… but mostly it was just tiresome. _It's like dating two twelve-year-olds_, she thought to herself, not for the first time.

Over the next couple of minutes, Dawn was presented with a giraffe, a hippo, a blue bunny - so the pink one would have a boyfriend - a tiger, an elephant, a moose, a seal, and an eagle. The booth's owner, who sometimes didn't have to give away that many prizes over the course of an entire afternoon, watched in growing alarm as the slayers knocked down stack after stack without a miss, bickering good-naturedly with each other the whole time. Finally, he offered to give them each their pick of his remaining stock if they'd just stop playing and go away. Which was a good thing, because when they turned back to Dawn to give her the alligator and unicorn they'd chosen, they realized she was struggling to stay upright under the mountain of stuffed animals threatening to bury her.

"Crap! Sorry," Faith said, and grabbed a handful to help relieve her of some of the burden.

Satsu also took a few, and now they could actually see her face again above the mass of brightly-colored fur. "Guess we got a little carried away."

"No kidding," Dawn deadpanned. She looked at the two of them, and then down at her own still-bulging arms. There were maybe a dozen of the things in total. "We can't carry these around all day."

"And we don't really have space for all of them back in the dorm room, either." Satsu looked apologetic, and also a little embarrassed at what her competitiveness had ultimately wrought. "Maybe we can give them away to some of the kids around here," she proposed. There was certainly no shortage of children to choose from.

"Good idea, but ooh - I've got an even better one. Why don't we take them over to the children's hospital tomorrow and give 'em to the kids there? Well, most of 'em," Dawn corrected herself. "I'm keeping the pink bunny… and the tiger."

"Then I want dibs on the gator," Faith said.

"I'll take the seal," Satsu chipped in.

"And I want the hippo."

"Then gimme the eagle." She reached for it and took it from Faith's hand.

"Hey, _I_ won the damn eagle!"

"So? I won the hippo!"

"Guys!" Dawn nearly yelled. "Sick kids. Hospital. Remember? What do we give them if we keep most of these for ourselves?"

"Hey, you started it," Satsu muttered, a little sulkily.

"We could stop and pick 'em up a couple of six-packs," Faith suggested.

The other two just stared at her in disbelief for a moment. "You're a moron," Satsu told her.

"Yeah, well, that's true, but we can't all be geniuses like you, Doctor Susie," she replied with an easy smile. "Besides, I was kidding."

"Oh, I know. You're still a moron."

That made Faith laugh. "Yeah, and you love it, too. Don't worry, I got this. Here, hold these," she told the other slayer, and dropped her handfuls of animals into Satsu's arms so fast she barely had time to catch them all. "Hey, dude," she called out to the owner of the game booth, and started back in that direction. His face filled with panic and he raised his arms out as if trying to ward her off, but she just held up a dollar bill and asked, "You got like a big plastic bag or somethin'?"

* * *

><p>He did, and they carried the bag full of stuffed animals around with them for a little while, until it got to be too much of a nuisance. Eventually, Faith offered to make a run back to the parking lot and drop it off in the car.<p>

They waited for her at one of the guardrails along the edge of the pier, staring out across the ocean.

Well, that's where Satsu was staring. Dawn was looking down at the strip of pictures in her hand, taken just a little while ago in one of the nearby photo booths. The three of them crammed tightly together into a space designed for just two people, smiling at the camera. The three of them making goofy faces. More goofy faces, and unknown to the other two, Dawn's hands had crept up behind their heads, making rabbit ears. Faith and Satsu planting kisses on each of Dawn's cheeks. Faith and Satsu kissing each other, while Dawn grinned down on them from above. Faith pulling up her shirt and flashing her boobs. Faith attempting to pull Satsu's tank top and bikini aside and reveal _her_ boobs. Satsu's hands busily trying to fend Faith off, and Dawn pulling off a successful sneak attack and baring the Japanese girl's chest to the camera. The next shot, if there'd been one, would have shown Dawn's shirt in the hands of one slayer, her bra in the hands of the other, and her desperately trying to cover herself and grab her clothes back at the same time. But their money had run out, and that moment would live on only in their memories. Thank God.

Her eyes lingered on the last couple of pics, and she thought again how nice both slayers' boobs were. Considering how different they were in size, it was amazing how tough it was to say which ones she liked better. It was like the two girls themselves: they offered totally different things, and Dawn was the lucky one who got to enjoy the best of both. They each filled their own unique part inside of her. She knew she could be happy with either one, but with both, she felt complete. She worried again whether that would still be true tomorrow, considering what was going to happen in a few minutes. But for right now -

"What are you thinking about?" Satsu asked suddenly.

"Boobs," Dawn answered without thinking, then instantly turned a shade of red so dark it was almost purple. "I mean - "

"I know what you mean, perv," she said, giving the photo-strip a mock glare. "And I'm so gonna get you both for that, so don't think for one second you got away with it. Okay, then what _else_ are you thinking about?"

"Worrying what Faith is going to say," she admitted.

"Yeah. Me, too. Do you still wanna go through with it?"

"Yeah. I just… we can't go on like this forever, y'know?" Of course she knew. They'd talked about this for days. It wasn't too late to change their minds, but this was what they'd decided to do. She was scared enough already - she didn't need to start the conversation all over again, and risk talking herself out of it. To change the subject, she asked, "Hey, you wanna have lunch with my dad tomorrow?"

"Just him and me?"

"Maybe. Or I could come, too, if you'd like."

"Whichever," Satsu agreed with a smile and a shrug. More seriously, she inquired, "Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh." In the time since she and Buffy had first gotten together again with their father, Dawn had seen him on three more occasions. She'd met his new wife, and his wife's son (how weird was it that she and Buffy had had a stepmother and stepbrother for two years without even knowing about it?). They were taking things slow and tentative, but that was working. So far. Now it was time to start introducing him to the people in _her_ life. "I dodged the 'boyfriend' part of the question, and just told him I'm in a relationship, but he's a smart guy - pretty sure he's figured it out already. Which is just all the more reason to introduce you ASAP. I don't want him to think I'm embarrassed about you or anything, 'cause obviously I'm not. I wanna show you off," she finished with a proud grin.

"How do you think he'll take it?"

"I don't know. I think he'll be cool with it. I mean, it couldn't go worse than it did with Buffy, and that all turned out okay in the end. I would've told him already, but it's not the 'Dad, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend' thing that's scary, it's - "

"'I'd like you to meet my girlfriend… and my other girlfriend,'" Satsu finished, and sighed. "Yeah. Tell me about it. Parents are old. We don't want to be the reason they have heart attacks."

"Have you figured out how you're going to do it yet?" Dawn asked, and the look she received in return just said, 'Are you kidding?' "Oh."

"I'm trying to figure out what would hurt Faith less: thinking I'm too ashamed of her to let her meet my parents, or actually meeting them and realizing they're horrified by her. I'm putting it off and hoping an awesome Option C will come to me in the meantime."

Dawn understood her problem all-too-well. She'd gone home to Washington state with her for a week during the last Christmas break, and met Satsu's parents, who still didn't approve of their daughter's 'lifestyle.' They'd been very proper and courteous, but it had been an uncomfortable visit nonetheless, and Dawn had been extremely glad when it was over. What was scary was that Dawn was pretty sure that they'd liked her better than any of Satsu's high school girlfriends. Dawn was friendly, polite, had learned to speak fluent Japanese, and was in college (and, like Satsu, on the dean's list). Faith was moody, blunt, a high school dropout, and an ex-con. Maybe Satsu was right to worry about possible heart attacks.

She put the strip of photos away in her pocket. "You realize that what's about to happen could make all this worrying a totally moot point, right?"

"Yes. But if it doesn't?"

"Hey," the third member of their trio said from behind them, and Dawn was saved from having to answer. They both looked back at her, and she held two of the three cups of beer she'd just bought out to them. "You two been talkin' about me?"

"Yep." Satsu took one of the offered drinks. "Dawnie says she likes your boobs."

"Tsu!" Dawn exclaimed, feeling her cheeks glowing bright red again. That wasn't exactly what she had said… but she wasn't going to dispute it, because it's not like it wasn't true.

Faith chuckled. "Hey, who can blame her, right? They are pretty spectacular."

"And _I_ love how wonderfully modest you are," the other slayer said.

"I don't have time for modest. It gets in the way of the fun stuff." She joined them at the railing and looked down at the water lapping against the pier's pilings directly below. "Hey, look: sharks. Wicked."

They stood and sipped their beers in silence for a bit. Dawn was just getting ready to open her mouth when she felt a sneaker give her a soft kick in the foot, urging her on. "So, um… Faith?" She cleared her throat and tried again, hopefully without the squeakiness in her voice this time. "We wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh, yeah? What's that?" She turned to face the two younger girls with a bit of a wary look.

Okay, this would be the easier part. In theory. "Tsu and I have been talking to Buffy, and she wants to form a small team of slayers here in LA." The two girls that were stationed in the city right now just weren't enough to put out all the demon-y fires that kept popping up… which was why Satsu kept getting dragged back into things. "Five veterans and five newbies. Buffy and Giles both say that they'd like you to be in charge of it."

"Really," was what she finally said, after just staring at them for a moment or two. "Do they remember that the last time I got put in charge of a bunch of girls I got us all blown up?"

"Uh… yeah?" Dawn said/asked, and then her brain completely locked up and absolutely refused to give her mouth another sentence. All she could do was smile weakly back at Faith and hope Satsu came to her rescue.

And the Japanese girl must've read her mind, because she spoke up and reminded, "Those were potentials who were greener than green, Faith. This would be totally different. You'd have four other experienced slayers working with you, plus one of Giles' most trusted watchers. You wouldn't have to do it all this time, and you'd have a good support system around you."

"Any chance you'd be one of the four?"

"Sorry." Satsu hoped her smile would help soften the rejection. "Retired, remember? But I'll be there, sword and stake in hand, any time you really need me."

"And I won't do any actual fighting, but I'll be here to offer moral support," Dawn added with an eager smile. When Faith only looked dubious, Dawn sighed and explained, "We're just sick of always having to watch you leave. It's like Christmas once or twice a month whenever you show up, and we spend a couple of days gorging ourselves on… Christmas goodies… and then we have to take you to the airport and try not to cry our eyes out while your plane takes off. And then we spend the next two days trying to catch up on all the sleep we missed and counting the days until you come back again."

"This whole thing is pretty… different," Satsu said, taking over for her, "but we don't want it to be long-distance like this anymore. We know how much you love traveling all over the world, but we're hoping that you might rather stay here in LA. Full-time. You don't _have_ to, but we'd love it if you would."

"Ssooo… what you're really saying," Faith translated, looking right at Dawn, "is that B only offered me this sweet new gig as a favor to you. Huh - weird. I thought she'd wanna get me as far away from you as she could."

"No, that's _not_ what I'm saying," Dawn told her. "You're the second-most-experienced slayer in the whole world - you _should_ have an important job, and Buffy's thought that for a long time. She's just never offered before because she didn't think you'd wanna be tied down in one place very long. We told her that we hoped you had something here now that might make you wanna stick around."

"If it doesn't work out, you can still walk away at any time," Satsu added, leaving vague what she meant by 'it.'

After a long few moments of thinking about it, Faith finally said, "I don't know. It sounds… pretty good, actually."

"But…?" Dawn prompted when she didn't go on, knowing that that was the next word coming.

"But it's a big thing to decide all at once. B doesn't need an answer, like… today, does she?"

"No, you've got time to think about it." Dawn tried to fight back her disappointment. She'd sort of been hoping Faith would say yes right away - especially since the big thing was still to come. But she hadn't said no, either, and even seemed kind of excited about it, so that had to be a good sign… right?

"Okay - good," she said with obvious relief. "I couldn't do it right now, anyway. There's something up in Montana I'm still working on. Couple of Willow's witchy friends are tryin' to keep a lid on something, and need someone to do the heavy-lifting. I've helped 'em get this far - I can't bail on 'em now."

"Anything serious?" Satsu asked.

"Nah, we can handle it. Hey, you guys still hungry? I wonder if any of these places serve clam cakes."

She'd taken a step toward the food vendors, but Satsu spoke up and stopped her. "Actually… there was one more thing. You know that the school year ends for Dawn and me in just a few more weeks, right?"

"Uh, if I did, I guess I forgot," she admitted, obviously having no idea how that possibly mattered to her.

"Once it does, she and I are moving out of the dorm. Getting our own place."

"It was fun living on campus at first," Dawn explained. "But we never go to the parties anymore, and the room's just too small. We need something with more space."

"Yeah," Faith grinned. "And the first thing you should put in it is a bed that can hold three people. The times I've stayed over where we've actually tried to do some sleepin', it gets a little cramped trying to fit all of us in there."

"That's the first thing we're going to do once we've found a place - go down to the furniture store and use Buffy's credit card on the absolute biggest bed they've got," Dawn promised. "And… Satsu and I… were kind of hoping that… that you might want to sleep in it with us _every_ night." She held her breath and waited to see if this would be the end of it. She and Satsu had talked (and talked… and talked) about this, and agreed that there was as much as a fifty/fifty chance they'd never see Faith again after today. She'd freak out and run, and not stop until she'd reached Thailand. But the risk would be _so_ worth it if… if…

Faith became very still. The sounds of the crowd, the rides, the ocean, and the seagulls around them seemed to fade to nothing, and in that moment the three of them were the only three people that existed in the whole world. The intense look Faith was giving them would've been enough to send some people running away screaming, but they both knew her well enough to read the look for what it was. Faith was just searching. Searching them for some hint about what they were really feeling. Searching to see if they meant it, or if they were just teasing her. Making fun of her.

"You're asking me to move in with you."

"Yes. We are," Satsu confirmed.

"Why?"

"Because that's what people do when they're serious about each other."

"Are we serious?"

"How can you even ask that?" Dawn accused.

"What do you mean, 'how can I?'" Faith fired right back. "You know me, D. You know what I'm like. I don't do 'serious.' Or, I mean, I never have… before… but… Ah, shit," she breathed, and walked back over to the railing. "This thing just gets crazier and crazier, doesn't it? How the fuck did I ever let it get here?" she muttered, mostly to herself, and ran a hand through her loose hair.

Satsu and Dawn stood where they were, silently, letting her go through it all in her head and waiting to see what she'd say next.

"What do you think about this, Susie?" she asked at last, without taking her gaze from the water.

"I think I hope you say yes."

"Yeah, but why? I know you're the reason for this… this… whatever you wanna call it that we've got now, but you did that for D. You cared about her, you knew it was what she wanted, and bonus - you got some hot sex out of it. I guess I wanna know if this is the same thing. 'Cause I'm totally cool keeping things exactly like they are now: show up for a couple of days of epic screwing, then take off and leave the happy couple alone again for awhile. If you suddenly want it to be more, I gotta know why. Are you doing it for me, or for her?" She raised her beer to her lips and finished off the half of it still remaining in one long gulp.

"You're right - I did do this for her," Satsu agreed, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Dawn's face fall and her shoulders slump. "You don't think I _hated_ you when I first found out about the two of you? Or that it was my lifelong dream to have… this?" she asked, gesturing between the three of them. "Can you even imagine how many times I wished when I was growing up that I could just be 'normal,' like everyone else? That I could fall in love with someone that my parents wouldn't be disgusted by? Except it turns out I'm _such_ a complete freak that I somehow end up in a relationship that even my own minority group mostly wouldn't get! And you know the craziest part of it? It was something I really didn't even want to do at the time, and it's turned out to probably be the best decision I've ever made in my life."

Faith turned to face her. It was late afternoon already and the sun was on its downward path along the sky, and Faith was standing directly between it and Satsu. All that the Japanese girl could see was her silhouette and a million shining ripples on the water behind her, but she took the fact that the other slayer hadn't run off yet or punched her as an encouraging sign, and continued. "When this started, it was all for Dawn. I don't care what kind of 'mystical connection' you and I have - without Dawn, I wouldn't have cared if I'd never seen you again. But that's changed." She risked a step forward. "I know you now. I've seen the side of you that you try to keep hidden. I know that there's a wonderful, kind, caring, beautiful person in there somewhere that you've had to almost completely bury just to survive the life you've had up 'til now. And I feel so happy and honored that you've trusted me enough to let me see it, even just a little bit.

"If I ever lost Dawn, it'd wreck me. But what I've realized recently is that losing you would be just as bad. That's why I'm the one that first called Buffy and tried to find a reason for you to stay here in LA. Not Dawn - _me_. I hate having to say goodbye to you, knowing we won't see you again for weeks. Thank God I'm not alone, at least, and Dawn and I can wait for you to come back together, but call me the greediest person in the world, because I want you both. Full-time, no favorites." Hey, her cheeks were wet. When had that happened?

Faith was the one who took the step forward this time. The sun still hid her face, but her voice was full of some unidentifiable emotion as she asked, "Are you seriously trying to tell me that you feel the same way about me as you do about Dawn?"

"Yes," Satsu answered truthfully. It had been one of the biggest shocks of her life when she'd realized it, and it still wasn't that much less shocking even now, weeks later, but she wouldn't try to deny it to herself. Hell, she didn't _want_ to deny it. She wanted Faith. She wanted them both. For now and ever after.

"You love Dawn."

She knew what Faith wanted to hear. But was she asking because she felt it, too… or because she wanted to be able to laugh at her for getting so deeply invested in something that had been nothing more than a few months of off-and-on fun for the other slayer?

Hey - nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Deep breath. "Yes, I love Dawn. And yes - I love you, too, Faith."

"Me, too," Dawn said in a voice little more than a whisper. "I love you, too. I tried not to at first, 'cause I thought that should only be for Tsu, but now we both know it's okay. It doesn't mean we love each other any less, just that we have enough room in our hearts for more than one person."

"The last time someone told me that was Boston." Faith took another step toward Satsu. She could see her face a little better, but still not well enough to guess at her expression. "A long damn time ago. And even the people who said it to me back then, it was all just bullshit. They only said it because they wanted somethin' off'a me. Even my mom. But what I can't figure out now is what _you two_ would want from me. What could I have that you'd wanna take for yourselves? You don't even need to say it to trick me into fucking you, since I'm doing that already. Which means you both must be crazy enough to actually believe it." The words themselves sounded angry, but there was no actual anger in her voice. If anything, she sounded almost… stunned.

She took one more step, and at last her face was visible. Satsu was right - she _looked _stunned. She didn't even seem to know what to do next, in fact, but Satsu knew she had to let her make the next move. She just hoped Dawn would follow her lead and wait for it.

Finally, moving as slowly as if she were in a dream, Faith's hand came up, ran over Satsu's shoulder and around to the back of her neck, and pulled her forward into a kiss. It was unlike any other kiss she'd ever had with Faith. Gone were the hard, aggressive, almost angry lips and mouth she'd always known. This was slow, soft… almost timid, like maybe Faith had never tried to kiss anyone like this and was scared of doing it wrong. She'd never tried to kiss anyone with any emotion or feeling in it before. That alone was enough to make it the best kiss Satsu had ever received, and she did her best to return it and give back everything she was getting.

She didn't know exactly how long it lasted, only that it felt like a long, long time. When it was over, Dawn was standing right there, and Faith turned and gave her another just like it. As she watched them, Satsu thought back on her earlier worries about heart attacks, because she felt sure that her heart was going to burst right then and there with her love for them both, and wouldn't _that_ be a really unfair way for this to end between them all?

"I can't… I can't say it back," Faith told them when it had ended. "I'm sorry, I just… Not yet."

"It's okay - you just did," Dawn beamed, and when Faith gave her a questioning look, shrugged and explained, "Actions are always way better than words." She leaned over and gave Satsu a kiss that didn't last quite as long, but was every bit as meaningful.

"Shit, I can't believe I'm actually doing this," Faith nearly gasped, and turned back toward the water, breaking a bit of the spell that had settled over them. They both knew how important her illusion of total composure was to her, and they gave her the moment she needed to get it back in place.

"Did somebody say something about clam cakes?" Satsu asked Dawn while they waited. "I have no idea what those are, but they sound great."

"I've heard of crab cakes - I think they have those in one of these stalls somewhere. Not sure about clam ones, though."

Satsu finished off her beer, plucked Faith's empty cup up from her hand, and deposited them in the nearest trash barrel.

While her back was still turned, strong hands suddenly grabbed the insides of her thighs and forced them apart, the back of a head appeared between her legs, and the next thing she knew she was up and sitting astride Faith's shoulders. "Hey!" she cried with a delighted laugh. She wasn't very big, but neither was Faith, and they were getting some amazed looks from people nearby who couldn't believe the small brunette in the leather jacket was carrying the cute little Asian girl around so effortlessly.

Faith grabbed Dawn and gave her another quick kiss. "Don't worry, I didn't forget you. You're going up there next," she told her.

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"Think again."

"I'd rather ride the rollercoaster."

"Good, then we'll go ride the rollercoaster. You're still going up there."

"If you try to make me, our other girlfriend will beat you up."

"I'll tell you a secret," Faith confided. "Our other girlfriend is kind of a pussy."

"Hey!" two voices simultaneously exclaimed.

"Sorry, Susie, just callin' 'em like I see 'em. If you ever manage to take me, maybe I'll change my mind. But you still haven't beaten me yet. At anything, really," she said as they threaded their way along the crowded pier back toward the amusement park, one slayer riding easily along on the other's shoulders. In a quieter, more serious voice, she told Dawn, "So, uh, I guess you can probably call B whenever you get a chance. Tell her if she's really serious about it, I guess I'll take that gig here in LA. As soon as I finish that thing in Montana."

"Okay." It kind of sucked that they were going to be losing her again right away after everything that had just happened, but it would be for the last time. And she and Tsu would be busy studying for finals over the next few weeks and wouldn't have had as much time to spend with her, anyway. But once those were over and she was back for good… it was going to be an awesome summer.

As the smells of the frying food wafted into her nostrils, she suddenly remembered one other thing she still had to worry about. "Hey, um… Faith? Would you like to come have lunch with my dad tomorrow?"

_**The End**_

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><p>Thanks for reading!<p> 


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